This invention relates to compacts, and in an important specific sense is particularly directed to compacts for containing cosmetics for application by an end user.
For purposes of illustration, the invention will be described herein as embodied in compacts for cosmetics, it being understood, however, that its broader aspects the invention is not limited thereto but may be embodied in compacts for containing other types of materials as well.
Many cosmetics materials, including face powders, foundations, eye shadows, blushes, and some lipsticks and mascaras, are commonly placed (for retail sale and subsequent end use) in containers known as compacts. A conventional compact includes a base formed as a tray with one or more upwardly open recesses for holding the cosmetic material in compressed or like stable condition, and a cover for overlying the base and enclosing the tray to prevent the contents from drying out, becoming contaminated, spilling, or soiling outside objects. One or more brushes, pads such as powder puffs or other implements for applying the cosmetics may also be placed within the compact between the base and cover.
In these conventional compacts, the base and cover are typically molded of plastic or formed of metal, and are hinged together in clamshell fashion along one side of the compact, a manually operable latch being provided on the other side to hold them in closed position. The compact is dimensioned to be held in the hand, and may be square, rectangular, oval, circular, or of other regular or irregular shape. To apply the contained cosmetics, the user opens the compact, draws an applying implement (or a finger) across the cosmetic material held in a recess of the base tray to pick up some of the material, and conveys it on the implement to the appropriate facial area. Very advantageously, a mirror is provided within the inwardly facing surface of the cover so as to be visible by a user when the compact is open and the user is applying the cosmetic material to the face. Thus, the user can easily and accurately apply the cosmetic when no external mirror is available. The disposition of the mirror within the compact cover is an important feature of convenience in that it enables the user to hold and position both the exposed body of cosmetic material and the mirror in one hand while employing the other hand to manipulate the applicator.
It is frequently desirable to package a compact in a manner enabling retail customers to view the contained cosmetic material at the point of sale without exposing the material to contamination such as can occur if a compact is opened at a store by a prospective purchaser. Accordingly, the compact may be sealed in a transparent plastic film, e.g., in a blister package, with the cover opened to lie flat with the base so that the contents of the compact are clearly visible through the blister film. A problem with this type of packaging, however, is that the area of the package must ordinarily be at least twice the area of the closed compact, because the base and cover lie open at 180.degree., or approximately at 180.degree., to each other; hence the packages occupy undesirably large amounts of shelf or display space.
Expedients heretofore proposed to reduce the area occupied by compacts in blister-package or like displays have included the provision of special articulated hinges connecting the cover and base to enable the cover to turn 360.degree. into a position underlying the base. These expedients are more or less structurally complicated, adding to manufacturing cost and complexity, and may present difficulties in manipulation for the end user.
Other possible arrangements for enabling point-of-purchase viewing of the contents of a compact would require elimination of the interior cover mirror with consequent loss of its beneficial attributes of ease and convenience in application of cosmetics.